Thomas Smith Honored With Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award
March 3, 2025 Thomas Smith, a former president and chairman of the board of the National Cotton Council (NCC), posthumously received the NCC’s Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024.
The annual award, established in 1997, is named for Oscar Johnston, whose vision, genius and tireless efforts were foremost in the shaping and organization of the NCC. The award is presented to an individual who serves the cotton industry through the NCC over a significant period of his or her active business career. The award also recognizes those who exert a positive influence on the industry and who demonstrate character and integrity as well as perseverance and maturation during that service.
Smith, who passed away on Dec. 1, 2023 at the age of 88, was honored at the NCC’s 2025 annual meeting held Feb. 14-16 in Dallas, TX. His son, Mark, accepted the award on behalf of the Smith family.
The Smith family accepting the 2024 Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cotton Council. (Photo: NCC)
Smith’s extensive service to the NCC included multiple Council program committees including Industry Practices and Policies, Foreign Operations, and Farm Program and Economic Policy. He was elected vice president in 1985 and became president in 1996. In 1997, he was elected chairman of the board and subsequently served as an advisor to the board.
A Texas native, Smith graduated from Texas A&M University in 1957 with a degree in agricultural economics. With strong recommendations from professors, he obtained a job at Calcot, the largest cotton marketing organization in the Western U.S. He moved to Bakersfield as a 22-year-old who had never been outside Texas and advanced through the corporation, working in every aspect of the business before being named president in 1977. In all, he worked for the grower-owned cooperative for 45 years and was President and CEO for 25 years before retiring in 2002.
Appointed by two secretaries of agriculture, Smith served on the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee and was inducted into the Cotton Hall of Fame. During an era when cotton was the single largest crop in the San Joaquin Valley and Arizona, he led a sales team that marketed millions of bales, exporting the majority to textile mills worldwide. He tirelessly represented the interests of western cotton growers in Washington, D.C., New York, and throughout the industry.
Smith’s expertise and counsel were sought by many organizations. He served for nearly 40 years as a board member and chairman of the Bakersfield Memorial Hospital board of directors, chairman of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, and was a graduate fellow of the California Agricultural Leadership Program. Texas A&M honored him with the Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He was also a longtime member of the Downtown Bakersfield Rotary Club and numerous other community organizations.
Information from the National Cotton Council
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